The art of music

SINGAPORE — Visual art and pop music have had a lasting relationship. Through the years, many works by artists — from Peter Blake to Storm Thorgesen — have graced record covers, creating some iconic works, such as the wonderfully colourful Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover, Cream’s Disraeli Gears or Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell.

And despite recent trends in music consumption, it seems the vinyl revival is giving album art a second wind. It also makes sense for vinyl to be used as inspiration for artworks, which is the basis for Singled Out, an art exhibition where 50 Singapore designers and artists transformed vinyl records into pieces of art. On display at tcc The Gallery on Circular Road until Jan 6, the works are up for auction, where all proceeds will be managed by Thunder Rock School through a music outreach programme that includes education and mentorship specifically catered to financially disadvantaged children in Singapore.

“In the future, these youth could eventually create music that will, in turn, inspire us. It’s much like a revolution of a record, with each turn an inspiration and to be inspired by,” said the exhibition’s curator Little Ong, who is also creative director of fFurious creative agency.

Ong said the idea was born after he tried to give away more than 200 vinyl records that someone had passed him.

“They were ’80s tea dance singles which I had no interest in,” he said. “I tried very hard to give them away but no one wanted them. It dawned on me that these records could perhaps be put to better use, to benefit children through music education, an aspect that has somehow been neglected in Singapore.”

The concept, he said, was that each artist would pick a song that made a positive impact on his or her life and create an artwork from these unwanted vinyl records. “Sound and vision have always been closely intertwined. The artists and designers I have invited for this project are people for whom I know music makes a difference in their lives, be it that they have worked on music projects, are musicians or simply love music,” said Ong.

As for working with Thunder Rock School, Ong said that decision came about after reading an article in the papers about Leonard Soosay, the music producer who co-founded the school three years ago with musicians such as keyboardist Amanda Ling and brothers Ian and Deon Toh.

“When I went to check out their website, I read a quote of Leonard’s that said, ‘I see my role as more of someone who makes another person’s dreams a reality’, which seemed to absolutely connect with what I was hoping to achieve through Singled Out,” said Ong. “So I met him and Deon, who were more than happy to be part of the project — by creating a subsidised music education programme that would enable them to reach out and mentor more children through the funds that we would raise from the artwork auction.”

Singled Out artworks are up for auction at http://singledout.ffurious.com throughout the entire duration of the exhibition.